¡¡Costa Rica!!

*I originally wrote this Thursday, 1/15/09*


Well. I’ve been in Costa Rica for almost 2 weeks now. Some things have become routine – like going to bed sometime around 10:00 every night and waking up before 6:30. So many things I am still learning… especially the language. It would take forever to chronicle everything that has happened since I arrived here but the highlights are certainly worth telling!

First, my family is wonderful. I live in a lovely house with my Mama Tica (Costa Ricans are called “ticos”), my older sister AnaCatalina, my older brother Luis, and my little sister Mariana. Oh, and Bruno our crazy puppy. He’s about 3 months old and bites everything! Every morning when I get up and open my door Bruno is sitting outside waiting for me to play with him. We also have an older gentleman who lives with us named Don Jose. I don’t reaaaalllly understand if he’s related or what, but he lives with us in the house! My mamá is really great. She makes the most delicious food every single meal! She helps me practice my Spanish by naming all of the foods and their ingredients for me. I hardly ever see Ana because she works long days and at night she is usually with her ‘novio’ (boyfriend). Mariana is cute and mischievous. I have spent lots of time playing with her and Bruno – usually while watching her favorite teen soap opera in Spanish. Mariana also taught me how to play Rummikub! Such a fun game, but you have to concentrate pretty hard to figure out the best moves to make – We played 9 or 10 games of it yesterday and by the end I had a headache…. Meanwhile genius Mariana is begging me “¡Otra! ¡Otra!” Luis is so nice! He has helped me a ton with my Spanish. He always asks me questions about what I’ve done during the day and explains things to me when I don’t understand. He is really patient with me! He says that he knows how it feels to be frustrated with a language because he went through the same thing when he was learning English. My whole family speaks a good amount of English but we mutually agreed in the beginning that they would all only speak Spanish with me. It has helped a lot!!!! I get frustrated, umm, pretty much every day, because it’s hard for me to understand when they speak fast. It’s also extremely frustrating to me when I can’t express what I want to say. But, I can tell that I’m improving.

Luis has a guitar and lets me play it whenever I want! Blessings From Heaven! I play whenever I get tired of doing homework. I have an intensive Spanish class every morning that lasts for 4 hours and then I have a decent amount of homework to finish for the next day! I’m also taking an elective course in Spanish literature that is every Tue/Th for 2 hours. When I get back to ASU, 50 min class periods are going to seem like the blink of an eye! I am learning to dance Salsa and Merengue at the university and it’s really fun. However, it’s with all of the other international students – who all insist on speaking English like, ALL THE TIME. They frustrate me a lot. I have met a few other students who like to practice their Spanish outside of class and I usually hang out with them most.

I have been to Tamarindo beach on the Pacific Coast. A group of students went last weekend. It was really beautiful with the mountains and beach right there together. I wore SPF 50 and still got a little burnt! Speaking of the weather here it’s been unnaturally cool for this time of year. I don’t know what the exact temperature has been, but I wear a sweatshirt almost every night and usually feel comfortable in jeans during the day. They keep assuring me that the weather should warm up soon! We had an earthquake here last week. It was the first time that I had ever been in an earthquake! There are tremors here in Costa Rica all the time and I had felt several since I arrived. At first when the earthquake began I thought it was just another tremor but it got stronger and stronger and I knew it wasn’t just another tremor. Even after it had ended I felt as if I was still moving. I was in the National Museum with some classmates when it happened. We didn’t really think a whole lot of it after it was over and we went on with our tour. When I got home that evening however I watched the news with my family and saw that some parts of the country had been affected more strongly by the earthquake. Several people died from being burred under earth and rubble. Last I heard they still had not determined how many deaths had occurred because a lot of people are still missing. Many people were stranded for a long time because in some places landslides completely covered the roads and made it impossible to travel in cars. I’m thankful that nothing that bad happened here in San Jose. We had a few broken glasses and things that fell off of the walls in our house, but that was all.

The people here are crazy drivers. I don’t really know if there is a lack of traffic rules in general or if it’s just that everyone ignores most of them. I do know one rule: As a pedestrian you have the right-of-way, ummmm, NEVER. Crossing the street is an experience totally in itself.

I LOVE being here, but sometimes it’s difficult not knowing anyone. Of course I am making friends and I adore my family but it’s still not quite the same as having my real family and my friends with whom I can share anything and everything!!! Much love from Costa Rica y ¡espero que Dios les bendiga!

- Megan